Mothers Living Apart From Their Children – Peer Involvement

Many women involved in the mums group find ways to ‘give back’. This might be making a cup of tea for other women in the group, welcoming new women or sharing ideas with others. Women may also choose to get involved as a peer by supporting the facilitator in the groups or by getting involved in training.

We are involved with a number of Universities offering training to social workers and other health professionals locally, regionally and nationally. This is a way of having experiences , both positive and negative, recognised in the hope that professionals learn. We also work to provide training to people wishing to adopt children to encourage an understanding of mothers who have lost children to adoption.

“Doing the work with adopters helps me because I use my experiences in a positive way. I talk about court and letterbox contact and I hope that they feel better about writing to the families of the children they adopt.”

We link up with mothers apart elsewhere in the country and a number of peers are involved with our working group which gives opportunities to get involved in the planning and delivery of our mothers apart work. Meetings take place four times a year and we use the time to reflect on achievements and plan for the future of the project.